Lost in Thought (Star Trek: TOS story)

Star Trek TOS Fanfiction
Title:	Lost in Thought
Author(s):	Tracey Alexander
Date(s):	1979
Length:
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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Lost in Thought is a Star Trek: TOS story by Tracey Alexander.

It was published in Stellar Gas #1.

Summaries from the Flyers

'Lost in Thought' takes place 5 years following the capture of the Romulan Commander from 'Enterprise Incident,' and details of her plot for revenge against both Kirk and Spock. The Romulans now possess the mind sifter as well as certain classified information concerning Earth's history immediately after the Eugenics War, which leads to a confrontation in the Earth of 2034, and a plot that could wipe James Kirk complete out of existence.

LOST IN THOUGHT deals with an episode which takes place following THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT. Though not a direct sequel to THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT, LOST IN THOUGHT details the female Romulan Commander's plot for revenge against Kirk and Spock and the crew of the Enterprise. LOST IN THOUGHT is primarily a character story, focusing on the friendship and loyalty shared by Kirk and Spock. Kirk must locate Spocks consciousness (yes, this was indeed written years and years before STIII: TSFS) .

Reactions and Reviews

The Commander plots her revenge by travelling back in time to try to kill one of Kirk's ancestors. Enterprise gives chase, and she captures Kirk, sticks the Mindsifter into a young earthwoman's subconscious, and uses it to suck Kirk's mind into the girl's. (Nice touch here is McCoy's point that the body requires at least a subconscious will to live, or it cannot even be kept alive by machine.) She uses this leverage to coerce Spock into making love to her. However, Spock finds Kirk in Mikimu, moves him into his own mind, and lets Kirk take over his body while it's in bed with the Commander. Cheater. Spock shows the Commander that the Praetor set her up to be killed; she kills Tal, defects, and helps restore Kirk to his body. Spock and Mikimu slay the Mindsifter. Mikimu is mind-wiped and sent back to Earth to be killed in a few days, so that Kirk's ancestor David may survive and the timeline be restored. Good premise, but the story would have been better at half the length - there's a tedious amount of mind-melding and Spock/Kirk agonizing over one another's pain in this one. I mean, really. Is it logical for Spock to keep going on and on about how alarming the prospect of sex is for Vulcans?

Imagine a Star Fleet-sponsored mutiny led by Spock, and Kirk a prisoner in his own quarters as part of an elaborate ploy both to save Kirk's life and to avoid Romulan tampering with Earth's past, and you won't be able to put "Thought" down until its unexpected conclusion.